The Aftermath
by KiRsTeNLiNdSaY
Summary: Harry is trying to make sense of the aftermath of the war. Will he and Ginny's love and many others survive this devastating tragedy?
1. Chapter 1

The Aftermath

Disclaimer: I do NOT own any of the characters in this story, or the italic writing to come.

Chapter 1

_Recap: "The thing in the Snitch," he began, "I dropped it in the forest. I'm not sure exactly where, but I'm not going to go looking for it again. Do you agree?"_

_"My dear boy, I do." Said Dumbledore, while his fellow pictures looked confused and curious. "A wise and courageous decision, but no less than I would have expected of you. Does anyone else know where it fell?"_

_"No one," said Harry, and Dumbledore nodded his satisfaction._

_"I'm going to keep Ignotus's present, though," said Harry, and Dumbledore beamed._

_"But of course, Harry, it is yours forever, until you pass it on!"_

_"And then there's this."_

_Harry held up the Elder Wand, and Ron and Hermione looked at it with a reverence that, even in his befuddled and sleep-deprived state, Harry did not like to see._

_"I don't want it," said Harry._

_"What?" said Ron loudly. "Are you mental?"_

_"I know it's powerful," said Harry wearily. "But I was so much more happier with mine. So…"_

_He rummaged in the pouch hung around his neck, and pulled out two halves of holly still connected by the finest thread of phoenix tail. Hermione had said that they could not be repaired, that the damage was too severe. All he knew was that if this did not work, nothing would._

_He laid the broken wand upon the headmaster's desk, touched it with the very tip of the Elder Wand, and said, "Reparo."_

_As his wand resealed, red sparks flew out of its end. Harry knew that he had succeeded. He picked up the holly and phoenix wand and felt a sudden warmth in his fingers, as though wand and hand were rejoicing at their reunion._

"_I'm putting the Elder Wand," he told Dumbledore, who was watching him with enormous affection and admiration, "back where it came from. It can stay there. If I die a natural death like Ignotus, its power will be broken, won't it? The previous master will have never been defeated. That'll be the end of it."_

_Dumbledore nodded. They smiled at each other._

_"Are you sure?" said Ron. There was the faintest trace of longing in his voice as he looked at the Elder Wand._

_"I think Harry's right," said Hermione quietly._

_"That wand's more trouble than it's worth," said Harry. "And quite honestly," he turned away from the painted portraits, thinking now only of the four-poster bed lying waiting for him in Gryffindor Tower, and wondering whether or not Kreacher might bring him a sandwich there, "I've had enough trouble for a lifetime." : End Recap_

There was so much cleaning up and funeral arrangements to be made that Harry and everyone else were overwhelmed. They were all snappish, and cranky. Professor McGonagall had so much on her plate, that she had called in almost all of Professor Dumbledore's friends. The Great Hall had been practically destroyed in the battle, so everyone needed to pinch in. No one wanted to enter the chamber where the deceased lay. Molly Weasley could be seen cleaning up, with tears pouring down her face, as could Tonk's mother. Harry's heart swelled with affection. He couldn't believe that Fred, Tonks, and Lupin had been killed. George was devastated, without his twin he was a mopey, useless, person, who had no joy left in him, and poor Teddy would never know his parents, but he did have his godfather, Harry.

Harry sighed. Shock and denial were just about the only two things running through his head, and he couldn't register the fact that so many of his loved ones were dead. Tonks and Lupin. Fred. Dobby. Deaths were non-welcome in Harry's mind. Destruction was at its worst. Not even the first war was this bad. Hogwarts would have to be completely rebuilt in order for kids to still attend. Harry imagined that he would have to help, as Professor McGonagall would want him to. Harry couldn't afford to be distracted, as there was so much for him to do; he didn't know where to begin with it all. He was about an inch away from having a panic attack from worrying about everything. But Harry was most worried about Ginny. He loved her more than anything, and he had told her that they couldn't be together until Voldemort was dead. And now he was. Did that now mean that they could, and would be together? The only thing that would help him would be to talk to Ginny, but she was cleaning up and surrounded by people.

Harry decided to go for a walk around the lake. He walked out of the Great Hall to the Front Doors. They were still wide open from last night, and everything was everywhere. He stepped lightly over it all walking farther ahead.

"I saw you walking, and thought you might like some company." Said a soft voice behind him.

Harry wheeled around. Ginny. "You know I realize that you probably want to be alone, but you cant take this out on yourself. It's not your fault. These people wanted to fight, Harry." He nodded. "you did what you had to do, and they did what they had to do, too. They need what they were doing when they joined the fight, as did everyone else. They knew that there was a chance that they could die, that it would be a possibility." Ginny walked over and wrapped her arms around him, and hugged him tight. He sighed, and pulled her to an arm's length. "We need to talk," said Harry.

Ginny nodded, all the previous talk aside. She wouldn't meet Harry's eyes, and he knew she thought that he was going to leave her. Say something like 'We can't be together.' Harry wanted to reach out and touch her soft skin, whisper to her that everything would be alright, that he wasn't going anywhere. He stared at her for a long moment. Her hair was askew, her lips tight. He wanted to remember this moment forever, here at Hogwarts. He wouldn't be returning after all. It was turning into a beautiful day that he wanted to remember as the day that he admitted his deep, true feelings to Ginny, and not the day that he defeated the Dark Lord, and he planned to tell her such.

"Ginny," he took a deep breath, "I love you. You are my life, and I wouldn't be able to live without you. I don't know if you feel the same but I wanted you to know my part first. This war has changed us drastically, and life couldn't be different. But in my eyes I always want to think back to this time, as not when I defeated Voldemort, but when the love of my life, and I decided to be together always. If you don't feel the same, I won't say that I understand but I guess I'll leave." He turned away from her as if he couldn't bear to see her. But what he wanted most was for her to say something.

* *

Ginny gaped, at Harry's turned back. She opened and closed her mouth in silence. The guy she had admired most had just told her he loved her. She knew where she stood. She knew that she wanted to love, and care for him. She wanted to spend her entire life with him, she wanted to have children with him. But yet, here she was standing there like an idiot. She didn't understand why her mouth was working, other than that she was in shock. She had never believed that Harry would feel the same as her. It had shocked her beyond words. He probably thought that she wanted him to leave, and never see her again. That was the last thing she wanted! She loved Harry with all of her heart.

* *

Harry knew it. She wanted him to leave. He shouldn't have said a word about anything. Great, now he wouldn't be able to go to the Burrow, because it would be awkward, but how would he see Ron, and Molly? Molly would probably think it was her fault, because neither Harry nor Ginny would tell her what had happen. Harry would feel horrible to leave Molly like that. Ginny still wasn't saying anything, at all. Maybe he should just walk away. He turned around. Ginny looked at him, with her big, round eyes, that seemed to be never ending, and filled with amazement.

"Harry, I----."


	2. Chapter 2

**The Aftermath**

**Chapter 2**

"_Harry, I----."_

Ginny suddenly collapsed, her head meeting the ground in a flash. Harry panicked, not knowing what was wrong. "Help!" he screamed, "Somebody send for help!"

Around twenty people ran out of the Front Doors. A stretcher was immediately conjured. "What's wrong with her? Why wont you tell me anything?" Harry said, concern in his voice. Was this why she wasn't talking at the time, but Harry just wasn't paying attention? Had she made any jester that she was hurt?

Harry couldn't recall Ginny doing anything to indicate that she was hurt, or that she needed help. He hadn't really looked at her for most of his talk to her. Only before, and after when she hadn't been saying anything. Harry hadn't realized it, but he was shaking. It was only when Hermione put her hands on his shoulders that he stopped.

"Harry, man, you have to calm down. She's going to be okay." Reasoned Ron. Hermione nodded, always being the one to side with Ron. "But---," said Harry, thinking carefully about his next words. He didn't want to be blamed for anything he didn't do, and he couldn't possibly tell Ginny's family that he had just told Ginny that he loved her. They weren't even going together, for Merlin's sake. "But I'm worried about her." He finished. "We all are. We aren't sure what's up, right now, though, mate. That's why she's going to St. Mungo's."

"I'm going for a walk." Mumbled Harry.

* *

The next week without Ginny was like a personal hell for Harry. He had been right when he had said that he wouldn't be able to live without her. He hadn't been able to sleep or eat, and the bags under his eyes, scared even himself, when he looked in a mirror.

Although he had been to visit Ginny, she wasn't allowed to have visitors, which is a real pain. The only people allowed in were Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.

The healers had said that Ginny had some curse, unknown of course, put on her during the battle. From what they had seen, it caused her to collapse at random times. Upon awakening she momentarily forgot who and where she was.

Harry felt that he was the cause of this. If they hadn't been involved, she wouldn't have been at the war. And then she wouldn't have gotten the curse put on her. But her family tried to say otherwise. They said it wasn't his fault, that he couldn't have done anything. All they could hope for was the best.

And the best came. About a month later, Ginny was released from St. Mungo's. The first person she went to see was Harry.

Then it was her turn to go first. She said the same as him, in different words. She loved him, she couldn't live without him, and that she didn't know if Harry still felt the same. Harry stared her in disbelief. How could she honestly think that Harry wouldn't love her anymore. She was like a drug, and he was addicted.

Once things were flowing again, Harry decided he should probably work. He had to been able to support Ginny, and Teddy. He really wanted to be an Auror, so he decided to approach the Ministry. Now that it was under Kingsley Shacklebolt, he didn't really mind going there anymore. He never took the magical entrance, although. He used the telephone booth that Mr. Weasley had once showed him, although that time wasn't the best circumstances.

Auror training was taking its toll on Harry. Every night he came home, to his apartment, tired and exhausted. Enter Teddy, his godson into the picture. Since Tonks and Lupin died in the war, Harry was the guardian of Teddy, but Tonks' mother was taking care of him, which probably wouldn't last for very long, as everyone expected Harry to become grown-up, and face his responsibilities.

So Harry didn't know what to do. Ginny and him were doing fine, and she was talking about moving in with Harry. Although, she still had a year to finish at Hogwarts, she wasn't sure she was going. Harry still wanted her too, as did her family. He had said that he would be fine without her, and he would come visit her in Hogsmead. The school year was only a month to come, and they still hadn't convinced Ginny to go.

"But, you need to go! Luna, and all your friends are going to be there!" argued Harry. "You wont be there! That's my whole point!" said Ginny. Harry sighed. As of right now he was losing the fight. "I will be there enough. We will see each other in Hogsmead, and I'm sure Professor McGonagall will want me to stop in and help her. And we have to learn to be dependent of each other. I want you to go, Ginny."

"Fine." She huffed. "I'll go. But only on one condition."

"And that is?" Harry asked.

"You have to let me move in with you." She smiled slyly.

"Ginny…" he groaned. "We've talked about this. I told you that you needed to stay with your parents, until you are of legal age. And you know that."

"But you know my parents will let me. And that's the only thing I want. I want to live with you. Don't you want that?" she asked.

"Of course! Why wouldn't I? But you aren't of age. It's illegal. But if you really want to, I guess we can talk to your parents. If that's what you really want to do."

"Oh, it is! This is great!" squealed Ginny.

* *

Ginny and Harry sat in the Burrow's living room, talking to Arthur and Molly. "Mom, Dad. We want to ask you something." Harry and Ginny had agreed that she would introduce the topic to them.

"You see I know how you guys, and Harry want me to go back to Hogwarts for my last year. So I have come up with a compromise. I want to move in with Harry." She said in a quiet, but confident voice.

Molly and Arthur looked at each other. "We thought this would be happening soon. And we realize that Harry's of age now, and that you two are pretty serious. So we agree. You can, Ginny. It's only a month until you go to school, and then you will be at school, and when you come back you'll be of age too."

Ginny grinned. "See? I told you they would understand!" She jumped up and grabbed Harry by the hands, and then she hugged him, tight.


End file.
